Known is the so-called Pulfrich effect according to which humans determine the distance between objects located in space because of binocular vision. However, this effect does not work for an image on a plane. When the image is limited by a screen, the Pulfrich effect can be obtained only with the use of special technical means such as a stereoscope.
Known in the art is “A Method and Apparatus for Detecting Abnormalities in Spatial Perception” issued in 2007 to V. Pugach, et al.” (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,309,125 issued on Dec. 18, 2007), wherein an apparatus for detecting abnormalities in spatial perception consists of a first transparent screen in a close-vision field and a second screen seen through the first one and located in a far-vision field and wherein spatial perception of a person being tested is determined by tracking trajectories of the eye pupils when the person follows trajectories of a moving image on a selected screen.
Disadvantage of this known method is that anomalies in spatial perception are revealed in a static state of the space and that the depth of the spatial perception is a given value.
Another example of erroneous spatial perception of three-dimensional moving object on a flat screen is video games. Video games were first introduced in the 1970s. By the end of that decade they had become the preferred childhood leisure activity, and adults responded with concern about the possible ill effects of the games on children. Early research on these effects was inconclusive. However, a resurgence in video game sales that began in the late 1980s after the introduction of the Nintendo system has renewed interest in examining the effects of video games. Statistics show that at the present time children between the ages of seven and 17 play for an average of eight hours a week. Most of the games on the market are appropriate for these young players, and the best of these games can bring a lot of benefits. However, in addition to the fact that some of the video games create problems associated with violence (shows killing of people or animals, use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, etc.), they generate habits of erroneous perception of moving three-dimensional objects on a flat screen, and this may lead to undesirable consequences. More specifically, the existing animated cartoons films and video games are created on the principle of static perspective, which is incorrect because in reality an observer sees moving objects differently, i.e., as turning and passing by.
The inventors believe that a person who spends many years on such incorrectly reproduced video games such as those showing a vehicle being driven by using a steering wheel of a simulator and observing the situation on a flat screen, a young or woman sit into a real vehicle, he/she is more often subject to accidents when driving an actual vehicle because of having acquired driving habits based on incorrect spatial perception observed on a flat screen. Also, there are no three-dimensional animated cartoons that correctly reproduce special arrangement of moving objects on a screen.
In general, animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of two- or three-dimensional model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. Animation is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist.
Known in the art are traditional animation and computer-based animation. Traditional animation can be divided into full animation with detailed drawings, limited animation that involves the use of less detailed and more stylized drawings and methods of movement, rotoscoping where animators trace live-action movement, frame by frame, stop-motion animation used to describe animation created by physically manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a time to create the illusion of movement, etc. The present invention relates to a method of computer animated methods where three-dimensional images of objects are created by reproducing images depicted from a plurality of sequentially arranged transparent media.
Computer animation can be created with a computer and animation software. Some examples of animation software are: Amorphium (can be acquired from IDG Communications Ltd., London), Art of Illusion (Free Software Foundation, Inc., Boston), Poser (SmithMicrosoftware, California), Ray Dream Studio (Fractal Design Corporation, California), Bryce (Ziff Davis Enterprise, New York), Maya (Autodesk, Inc., California), Blender (O'Railly, California), TrueSpace (Caligari Corporation, California), Lightwave (NewTek, Texas), 3D Studio Max (Fernando Sarmiento Graphic Design; address: info@supershareware.com<info@supershareware.com), SoftImage XSI (Avid Technology, Inc. Massachusetts). There are many more. Prices will vary greatly depending on the target market. Some impressive animation can be achieved even with basic programs; however, the rendering can be time consuming on a home computer. Because of this, video game animators tend to use low resolution, low-polygon-count rendering, such that the graphics can be rendered in real time on a home computer. Photorealistic animation would be impractical in this context.
Given below are some known inventions describing methods and devices used for visual perception of 2D-images as 3-D objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,342 issued in 1978 to L. Dudley describes an optical viewing system and method, the operating principles of which are based on two psychophysiological characteristics of the human visual system. One of these characteristics is the time delay between the arrival of a light stimulus or image on the retina of the eye and its recognition or interpretation at the visual cortex. The other characteristic is the non-achromatism of the eye. The first of these characteristics manifests itself in the so-called Pulfrich illusion, a moving object being apparently displaced from its actual path when viewed by an observer with a neutral filter in front of one eye because the differential visual time-lag results from the difference in brightness of the two retinal images. The second characteristic manifests itself in the so-called chromostereoscopic effect, which, under certain conditions, creates the illusion that differently colored objects, although actually at the same distance from an observer, are at differing distances from him.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,317 issued in 1998 to Lev Sadovnik, et al, discloses a 3-D volume visualization display that creates the illusion of seeing a volume image. The display comprises a volumetric multilayer screen that consists of a plurality of electrically switchable layers that are stacked and coextensive. Each of the plurality of electrically switchable layers includes: a first transparent dielectric substrate having a first side and a second side; a first transparent electrode coated on the first side of the first transparent substrate; and an electrically switchable polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal film coated on the first transparent electrode. The electrically switchable polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal film includes (a) a host polymer having an index of refraction, and (b) a nematic liquid crystal having (i) an ordinary index of refraction that substantially matches the index of refraction of the host polymer when an electric field is applied across the electrically switchable polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal film from the first transparent electrode, and (ii) an extraordinary index of refraction that causes visible light to be scattered at a host polymer/nematic liquid-crystal interface when the electric field is not applied across the electrically switchable polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal film by the first transparent electrode.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,999 issued in 2000 to O. Strandberg discloses a method for producing computer-processed animation that includes a workstation composed of a computer and peripheral equipment that produces a graphic movement sequence for a cartoon figure by compiling a recording of measured data from strategic parts of an actor and storing in memory information concerning the figure to be animated. The figure is divided into sections that are movable in relation to one another. Prior to figure compilation for producing an image of the figure, the measured data recording for each section is obtained in the form of a space angle. Prior to compiling each section, a grouping of a predetermined number of perspective drawings is stored, in digitized form, in the respective area of memory, each grouping being placed in a plurality of mutually different space angle positions. A memory area of interest representing a perspective drawing of one of the sections can be addressed with the aid of information relating to the space angle obtained from the measured data recording for the section concerned. The figure is compiled in the compilation image in accordance with a predetermined sequential compilation schedule, section by section, where each subsequent section is added to the nearest preceding section at a joint location in order to build the sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,327,361 issued in 2008 to T. Shamamura discloses a video game apparatus used as a three-dimensional imaging apparatus that includes a CPU. The CPU works together with a GPU to generate and display an image. More specifically, some objects are arranged in a virtual, three-dimensional space. The virtual, three-dimensional space is converted into a viewpoint coordinate and then is projected and converted. After projection conversion, determination points are set corresponding to a specific object, and the degree to which the specific object is hidden is calculated on the basis of the Z value of the specific object and the Z values of the determination points. At least one aspect of the display can be changed according to the degree to which the specific object is hidden.
However, none of the aforementioned devices and methods can correctly reproduce a moving spatial image on actual or virtual and sequentially arranged transparent media so that these images can be visually perceived as substantially three-dimensional.